Daily Herald opinion: The broader mission: Coordinated efforts help police department expand community services

On Monday, the Hoffman Estates Police Department opened for public view a new Community Resource Center that will help meet a variety of immediate needs and offer promising potential for important services that will expand the department’s abilities to serve and protect.

Such projects may not be entirely uncommon in the suburbs, where local police are often looking for programs and opportunities to help hard-to-reach constituencies, but that's all the more reason to call attention to the project for which the HEPD held its open house on Monday at department headquarters at 411 W. Higgins Road.

As our Eric Peterson reported, the Hoffman Estates effort was born from an idea by a social worker, came into being over the course of a year and was paid for by $20,000 seized from criminal activity, without any need for taxpayer contributions.

And it is a great example of cooperative efforts by diverse community resources. Social workers and police work together in operating the center, the Schaumburg Township Food Pantry provides food packs, and agencies like the police Charitable Foundation, local churches, the park district and the Kenneth Young Center all pitch in to offer support.

“One of the things that inspired this idea was the lack of resources after-hours,” said social worker Nataly Correa who first proposed the center. “I really think the need is everywhere.”

And Police Chief Kasia Cawley concurred.

“Often our social workers are dealing with crisis management. We felt there was a need to expand those services,” she said.

That expansion includes staffing for walk-in clients who need help in a crisis, mental health support or access to other community resources. Referrals will be available both in English and in Spanish, and the center will be staffed from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesday through Thursday with additional hours from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday.

The center will be staffed for walk-in services that include crisis management, mental health support and access to community resources from 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays through Thursdays, with additional afternoon and evening hours from 3 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Service referrals will be available in English and Spanish.

Furthermore, the space will be available to shift sergeants around the clock and provide such emergency resources as donated food packs, coats or other needs when other local sources of aid are closed for the night.

Eventually, organizers expect the space to host police-sponsored community events and meetings allowing police, teens, school personnel and other community representatives to meet, work together and build stronger relationships.

Too often, we think of police work in terms of interactions with violent suspects or victims of crimes or other emergencies. HEPD’s new Community Resource Center provides an important reminder of how much broader than that the police mission is — and in the process, it also shows what coordinated efforts by a wide variety of agencies and interests can accomplish.